The Bisca Story
Like the unfortunate duckling from H.C. Andersen’s famous fairy tale, a little girl named Karen Volf was born a common farmer’s daughter in the Danish countryside in 1864, her fate seemingly destined for hard labour and little, if any, prosperity in her future. But Karen grew up to be a swan.
She became one of Denmark’s first successful and independent business women, naming the legendary Karen Volf Danish butter cookies and cakes today sold worldwide under the Bisca brand name.
A Woman’s Global Success
In the early 1900’s, Karen Volf’s baked goods took the socialite Danes in Copenhagen by storm, and in the following years, Karen built a thriving bakery business covering the entire kingdom. Today, Bisca still bakes with some of her recipes, and her cookies are world renowned for their delicious taste and quality.
The Bisca bakeries are situated in the beautiful Danish island of Møn. From Stege, the island’s largest town, we yearly bake a host of cookies, cakes, crackers, biscuits, and many other baked goods for customers around the globe.
Cookies for the Queen
Karen lived to be 82, surviving both World Wars. Her legacy was passed on during the 20th century with several mergers and expansions of the business, but at the heart and core of Bisca, Karen’s vision and skilled work still stands. In the 1980’s, Karen Volf export was successfully founded, shipping the Danish butter cookies to markets all over the world.
In 1997, the Karen Volf company was named Bisca. At the same time, Bisca was proudly appointed purveyor to The Royal Danish Court, exclusively delivering our historic and tasty goods to Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II’s court.
Tradition and Innovation
In Denmark, Bisca is not only a bakery but a cultural institution known by every citizen. To cake-loving clients on other continents, our famed Danish butter cookies are the perfect and exclusive tasty treat.
Today, Bisca makes a yearly turnover exceeding 65.000.000 EUR, and we bake more than 200 different types of cakes, some of them everlasting classics made with Karen’s recipes, and some of them trendsetting and modern inventions of Bisca’s skilled innovation expert team.
Karen’s Vision Lives On
Passing the 125-year mark in 2015, Bisca banned the use of cage eggs, now only baking with free-range barn eggs. At the same time, we successfully launched our organic range of classics, and became 100% RSPO certified (Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil).
Because when moving forward with the times, Bisca will always honour and follow Karen’s own values constituting our business: Good taste, high quality, and love of the craft.
